Spiderling Instincts
by DeathByShyKid
Summary: Peter has an itch to just climb, to make webs, and to just be a little spiderling. He's not sure why he feels like this, but it makes him irritable and annoyed. Being Spiderman helps, of course, but it's never enough. Cue Peter making little hammocks and web contraptions inside of the Avengers.


**A/N – I was bored and it's not that good but this was purely self-indulgent and there really wasn't a basis for this. I hope you enjoy reading this, tell me what you think in the comments!**

* * *

This week couldn't have been worse, well, at least in Peter's opinion.

For some reason, the young superhero could not stop getting distracted by this or that. He couldn't stay still for longer than a few minutes. There was a constant _itch_ to do something, to get up and keep moving. Peter hadn't figured out what it was but knew that it was quite annoying. That and it was starting to be noticed by those around him. It had begun on Monday at school when Peter kept tapping his pencil against his desk. They'd been taking a test when it happened, the pencil tapping annoying more than a couple students in the process. With such a quiet classroom, the insisting tapping bothered the test-takers.

"Peter, if you do not stop with the pencil tapping, I will be forced to send you to the principal's office for disrupting class." His teacher had told him.

It bothered the teenager as he hadn't noticed himself doing this and quietly apologized, finishing with his test. However, the distracting movements and the burning inside of him continued well into Tuesday night as he sat with Bruce for some scientific concept. Peter couldn't exactly remember what the man had gone on about, too occupied with trying anything to will down the twitching of his fingers or the tapping of his foot. He had drummed his fingertips subconsciously, eyes boredly watching it. At the time, Peter swore that the movements looked something akin to a spider – maybe a tarantula, those were close to the size of his hand – just moving around. It made his stupid itch subdued, if only for a moment before Bruce was getting irritated with his behavior.

"Peter."

"A-Ah, yes sir?" He had been pulled from his lulling thoughts.

"Did you hear a word I said?" Bruce questioned him, arms folding over his chest.

Peter glanced at the white board behind the man, raising his eyebrows, "Uh… yes?"

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "If this is boring for you, you can head to bed for the night."

Tuesday ended too soon, Wednesday coming up behind it to simply bring another bout of discomfort.

Peter's itch was starting to annoy even _him_. It made him want to climb things or, well, _anything_ could suffice him at this point. School hadn't helped one bit, the classwork serving no purpose other than to bother him. It also didn't help that a spider had invaded the classroom, the little thing crawling along the teenager's desk. The eight-legged creature stayed there for quite a while, drawing in Peter's attention and distracting him once more.

He watched the brown spider tap its small legs against the desk, the tiny noise muted to anyone other than Peter, his superhuman hearing allowing him to hear this creature. It moved effortlessly to and from, simply walking around being alive. He allowed the small spider to crawl onto his hand, watching with interest as it played with the hairs on the teenager's hand. The brunette suddenly sighed depressingly, a pang of envy stealing his heart away.

He wanted to be like this spider, Peter mused, the thought starling for him as the spider left him.

Thursday night called for chasing down the bad guys. Peter hadn't seen many criminals during his patrol, having to stop a shoplifter and give an older woman back her purse. It was a warm evening with a nice breeze filtering in the air. It wasn't until there was a small explosion taking a hold of the road not too far from where Peter had been sitting. The teenager launched into action, getting mixed reaction from the civilians. He didn't worry about what they thought of Spiderman – _hero, vigilante, or just some hooligan; the world may never know_ – and just wanted to make sure everyone was okay.

Though, after the civilians were moved to a secure location leaving Peter to stare down the criminals, he found that the itch tore at his insides. It excited every cell inside him, sending energy pounding through his veins. He was buzzing with adrenaline, trying not to let a smile show on his face. Even as he continued to use his web-shooters against these bad guys – probably more than necessary – Peter couldn't get off this high feeling. The sweet sensation from using his webs was euphoric and it sent his head into an excited frenzy.

Spiderman left the bad guys to the cops but that did not mean that he left Queen's.

On weekdays, Peter was supposed to be home by ten or eleven o'clock; Thursdays were no exception to this rule. However, he simply couldn't stop himself from using his webs to sling-shot himself across town. He gave an excited laugh, pulling on the webs as he rounded corners. The teenager landed on the walls of a large building, climbing it with ease. The itch stopped in his excitement, allowing the boy to travel through the city as a spider would.

Though, when he finally climbed back into his bedroom at the Avengers Tower, he found that he hadn't been alone.

Tony flicked on a light then, an aggravated look on his face, "Do you realize what time it is?" The teenager knew he must have given the man a strange, dopey look before his adopted father sighed in exasperation. "It's almost four in the morning, Peter. You've got school in two and a half hours."

"What?" Peter blinked in surprise, looking at his alarm clock in question, "I… I'm so sorry, Dad, I just got, you know, busy and I lost track of time because-"

"Nope, don't want to hear it." Tony raised a hand in the air, effectively cutting the boy off, "You're grounded this weekend."

"What?!"

"Do not shout, there are other's sleeping around here, something that you've neglected for yourself." He said, narrowed eyes piercing Peter's soul, "Once you come home from school tomorrow – oh, and I'll make sure that Happy will pick you up – you won't be allowed to leave the house. No Spiderman or TV and give me your phone too."

"Dad!" Peter whined, shoulders slouching, "No Spiderman?"

"No Spiderman." Tony repeated, hand held out for the boy's phone which he gravely gave up, "Good, now get some sleep. You're not going to be late to school."

"Yes, sir." He said defeatedly, watching his father leave the room.

And so Friday came all too soon, giving way to an exhausted Peter Parker.

He managed to get through the school day with minimal classroom distractions but it was hard to do. The young brunette had to think about every little thing he was doing, watching his fingers go completely still after starting to tap against the desk or steeling his legs from bouncing underneath the cafeteria table. Ned wouldn't stop talking his ear off – about what, Peter had no idea – and gushing about Spiderman-this or Spiderman-that.

No one was home by the time he returned from school; they were probably at a meeting with S.H.I.E.L.D. or something else. Peter sighed helplessly, feeling frustrated. He pulled at his hair, digging his nails into his scalp; the burning itch continued, violent this time. He couldn't figure out why it was there but it wanted him to be Spiderman, to climb walls and web-up the bad guys. It was like his spider instincts were changing his personality to fit that of a spider.

Peter froze in realization; what if this was another side-effect of the spider bite and it was only affecting him now? It was definitely plausible – the churning of excitement in his stomach when he swung from buildings or when he stuck to the walls, scaling them easily – and it could explain all his weird distracted behaviors. The instinct wanted Spiderman, wanted him so badly that it hurt to be regular Peter Parker.

He glanced at his backpack, pulling out his web-shooters. Maybe just this once, he mused.

It was only three hours later that the Avengers returned, coming home to a complete mess of the living room and kitchen area.

"What the hell?!" Tony could feel his blood pressure rising, eying widening at the carnage. Web contraptions covered most of the room, some limply hanging from the ceiling while other were thick and hardened. It lingered on the floors and stuck to the group's shoes.

Clint started laughing beside him, getting an annoyed look from the mechanic, "Seems like Peter had something to do with this, huh?"

"Of course, he had something to do with this, he's the only one who can create webs like this." The dark-haired man growled out.

"Man, this stuff is really sticky." The archer commented, picking at the webs stuck to the counter.

Tony grumbled something unintelligible, fuming at the sight of the destroyed home, "When I get my hands on him, I'll…"

"Seems like he had a little too much fun while we were out." Bruce stated but had a smile spreading across his features, setting his bag on some of the untampered ground.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., where is Peter?" The billionaire asked the A.I., getting ready to give the boy a scolding.

"He is in the same room as you all are in currently." She stated with ease.

"What?" A course of confusion flew through them, eyes scanning the large room.

Tony huffed, "F.R.I.D.A.Y., you better not be lying to me or-"

Steve tapped the father's shoulder, getting his attention before pointing to a corner, "He's right there."

Peter was lying on what looked like a web hammock, mouth hanging open. They could see the drool traveling down his chin, obviously exhausted. The boy's hammock was tucked in between the ceiling and the corner, leaving just an inch or two from where he was snoozing to the ceiling. They hadn't even noticed he was there until the supersoldier pointed it out to him.

Tony cupped his hands to his mouth, "Peter, get down from there!"

No response.

"Peter!"

"I think he's dead to the world." Natasha commented, amused by what the other little spider had done.

"I've got this." Clint stated, walking over to where a closet was, pulling out a broom.

"What's that for?" Steve questioned.

The other man chuckled, "You'll see." Carefully, the archer made his way over to the sleeping teenager. He lifted the broom high into the air, poking Peter a few times.

His eyes fly open, hands clambering up to the ceiling, crawling a few feet away from his hammock. The boy looked down, seeing his family upside-down. His face flushes red, either from the weird position he was in or from embarrassment… probably both, the group mused. "U-Um, hi, guys." He commented

"Yeah, hi, why is the house a mess?" Tony gets straight to the point, arms crossed over his chest.

"I…" He looked around, seeing the webs everywhere, "I guess I f-forgot?"

Tony sort-of yelling at him, thinking about increasing his grounding session. "And get down from there!" He was becoming annoyed.

Instead of dropping to the ground like the older man assumed he would, Peter simply uses his webs, sliding down until he's at eye contact level with his father. However, he's _still_ upside-down.

"Are you playing some extreme game of 'the floor is lava'?" Clint questioned, suddenly confused by the odd behavior.

"What? No, I j-just… um…" Peter flushes red again, flinging himself to he can cling to the wall, walking on it as if it wasn't a weird occurrence at all.

"Peter," Steve's voice was full of concern, "Are you alright? You haven't touched the floor at all. Is there something we don't know about?"

Peter just becomes more flustered, "No, it's j-just, you k-know… I just f-feel like climbing a-and… u-um…"

"Kid," Tony started, sighing out, "just tell us."

"O-Okay, fine, I'll tell you, but… but promise me that you won't make f-fun of me." He gets a few nods, "Well, you see, lately I've been… kind of wanting to do s-spider things, I guess. Like my spider instincts they're just, you know, all over the place. And I can't stop this exciting feeling whenever I make webs or when I swing around the place and climb walls! "

Tony chuckles, "So _that's_ why you made a mess of my house?"

"Is that even possible?" Steve muttered, more to himself but he was still heard.

Bruce steps in, smiling slightly, "Mutants do tend to get urges like these. I sometimes get them myself, just wanting to turn into the big green guy sometimes and let loose. It's hard to manage but I've grown to have more self-control. However, Peter's only a teenager, he wouldn't have the same self-control I have to curb these… _spider instincts_ like I can with the big green guy."

The room becomes silent.

"…are you guys mad about the house?" Peter questioned quietly.

"Get down here and clean up this mess or I'm going to ground for a week." Tony stated, already starting to walk towards his lab.

"A _week_?!"


End file.
